Tucker's Ice Cream — Restaurant in Alameda

Got a vanilla malt, nice simple, good base test of ice cream quality. Served with a large paper straw that pulls as much air as malt, partly the state's fault but there are better options. On my first taste I noticed a weird flavor, I can't identify it yet. Malts should only have 3 ingredients so I'm not sure what's going on there. Maybe the ice cream or the malted milk, maybe they used soy milk or something equally disgusting. But to do that without asking would be such a violation of a malt I didn't even consider it until now. It was kind of a vegetable taste, it didn't make it undrinkable but it wasn't good either. I used to get malts at Tucker's all the time and this was a very different experience from a few years ago. I was on a malt quest and thought it would be a short journey but I guess this will be a longer, sweeter road than I thought.

UPDATE:

I went back to Tucker's as we were downtown having dinner and just wanted to get a simple cone. Well I got one but it wasn't what I wanted. At 7pm on a Friday night in the summer, fully half of their chiller cases were empty. They didn't have any of the flavors that I wanted even though they were all up on the board. You might think that they had just been very busy and unexpectedly sold out but I don't think that's what happened. The empty chillers had no containers in them and looked like they hadn't been cleaned or defrosted in a long time. The thing that I wondered about most was how did they not have more ice cream made and in storage ready to go? Oh and the trash cans in the seating area were overflowing. It was also about 10 degrees hotter inside than out, partly because one of the machines behind the counter was venting hot air into the customer line. I'm sad to see the iconic Tucker's go down this way. Hopefully someone will see the opportunity and open up an alternative...

Over the years I have been going in about 4 to 5 times a year, mostly during the summer months, mostly ordering dine-in and outside in the back, gated patio. I find the ice cream fairly average but that is offset by the myriad of dishes that are offered and the excellent behind-the-counter service. Tonight however, that all was disrupted by my feeling that I was being hustled out of my seat before I had finished my dish and long before closing time. I generally don't go into any food service establishment with less than one hour before closing. as staff is often tired and anxious to close in the final quarter-hour and before I have finished my meal. I find trying to enjoy my food, and my company, difficult when people are wiping down tables and swabbing the deck, and stacking furniture all around me. Tonight at Tucker's I ordered, received and paid for my two-scoop sundae, then took a seat in the step-up front section of the restaurant. All but one table had customers at them. In a few minutes I became distracted when I looked up and realized that an employee was stacking the furniture of the now mostly empty tables around me and a party of two, with 50 minutes remaining. He posted a "Section Closed' sign and as he walked away, informed myself and the others that we "had 10 minutes to finish, then the section would be closed" This, with 40 minutes remaining until closing and the restaurant roughly 70% full. Had this incident not happened tonight and I were writing this review I would have given Tuckers 4 stars but you know what? The Chestnut Street Encinal Market carries Straus Ice Cream and Nob Hill...

How does a customer feel when they get publicly yelled at and rudely shamed in front of others?

If the above is an obvious question to you, note that it's not obvious to certain Tucker's employees namely an older employee (male, glasses, was wearing hat that night). While waiting in line, my friend had initially stepped on the other side of the line (to allow others to temporarily pass through) but happened to be blocking the way for the employee for a mere 5 seconds. As she moved herself back into the line the man came out and confronted her.

"Did it ever occur to you that there's a line? Can you at least figure that out? There's a LINE HERE."

Two simple questions that put our group of ten off guard. We brushed it off. BUT he came out again and this time made sure to bring his point clear but louder.

"WOW well would you look at that, you've figured it out, you're in a LIIINNEEEE (he basically was yelling at this point)" and continues with his night.

Mind you this was after we've been patiently waiting for a good 10 minutes and our friend hadn't moved from the correct side of the line.

I looked back around at others since this was a bit strange and the couple behind me agreed that he's always rude.

Maybe the ice cream is great (which it sure sounds like it is) but customer service can often make or break an establishment. If there's any sign that this is true, they had lost a group of ten that night and who knows how many more they've already lost if it's well known amongst locals that the employee (caucasian male, glasses, older) could careless about...